ASHLAND -- In a scene reminiscent of the Cartoon Network bomb scare that paralyzed the Boston area in January, police shut down a strip mall yesterday in this small western suburb after employees at a Bank of America branch mistook a botched fax for a bomb threat.

Frustrated shop owners said the branch overreacted to the strange fax, which turned out to be an in-house marketing document sent by the bank's corporate office.

"The women at the bank should have handled it a little better," said Nick Markos, owner of Townhouse Pizza and Roast Beef, who estimated that he had lost $1,000 to $1,200 because of the lunch-hour evacuation. "She blew it all out of proportion, and all of us business owners had to pay for it."

A day-care center with about 30 children and more than a dozen small businesses in Ledgemere Plaza on Eliot Street were evacuated for about three hours after bank branch managers received a fax with images of a crude timer and a hand lighting a bomb, Ashland police Chief Scott Rohmer said. Bank employees told police a suspicious package had arrived around the same time, elevating their fears.
Bank security personnel later determined that a fax machine at the corporate office left off the text alerting employees to Small Business Commitment Week in June, including the words, "The Countdown Begins," above the bomb.

"It was not a communication that was ever meant to be distributed to customers or anyone externally, and the fax machine malfunctioned, so when it came out of the fax machine, it looked suspicious," Bank of America spokesman Ernesto Anguilla said.

Anguilla said that branches across the Northeast received the distorted fax and that while other branches also evacuated, none saw law enforcement response as extensive as in Ashland. He would not say how many branches received the fax or how many had been evacuated.

"In Ashland, the situation was compounded by the fact that we had a suspicious package on the scene, as well," Anguilla said.

Added Rohmer, "I think it was reasonable to assume there was a threat, based on what they saw on the fax."

Rohmer said that town officials may ask Bank of America to reimburse the town for the cost of the response, which included more than a dozen town officers and firefighters, personnel from neighboring towns, a State Police bomb squad, and police dogs. Anguilla would not comment on whether the bank would be willing to pay for the emergency response.

A reimbursement would add to the similarities to the Cartoon Network scare in January. The guerrilla marketing campaign, in which two artists hung 40 battery-powered light screens around Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, shut down major streets and subways as bomb squads rushed to remove the suspicious-looking devices.

Turner Broadcasting System, Cartoon Network's parent company, reimbursed local, state, and federal agencies and governments $1 million for the cost of the response and paid an additional $1 million in goodwill cash.

Dawn Frazier, a Holliston resident and owner of the Paul Albert Salon and Spa in the shopping plaza, said she immediately thought of that scare when she learned why she had to evacuate her busy shop.
"It was very disruptive," she said.

Cristina Valas, owner of The Family Pet Hospital, said it was fortunate that the hospital was not in the middle of a surgery when police ordered the evacuation. They were directed to leave three cats, including one recovering from dental surgery, inside.

"I wouldn't have taken it as a bomb threat, personally," said veterinary technician Amy Tatreau. "However, you have to, I guess, treat things seriously these days."

Two men hauling more than 40,000 pounds of Jawbreaker candies also had some not-so-sweet freight, the Minnesota State Patrol said: nearly 1 1/2 tons of marijuana.

Luis Rene Avila and Juan Carlos appeared in federal court Thursday on charges of intent to distribute marijuana.

A search using a drug-sniffing dog turned up the load during a traffic stop Tuesday near St. Paul. The 41 boxes of marijuana were surrounded by 28 pallets of boxes containing the hard candy, authorities said.

Kent Bailey, acting special agent in charge of the Minneapolis-St. Paul office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the marijuana would be incinerated and the candy probably would be destroyed as well.

"I initially thought about how we could give that away to kids forever and ever. But I couldn't take the risk," he said. "Even though they were in cellophane and they're boxed, that package has been sitting somewhere for a month with a ton and a half of marijuana next to it."

The truck was believed to have originated in Texas, but authorities said the men wouldn't say where it was headed or for whom they were carrying the load, according to court documents.

Carlos, of Mexico, faces deportation, authorities said. His attorney, Arthur Martinez, said Carlos was an unwitting passenger who had hitched a ride from Avila at a truck stop.

Caroline Durham, a public defender for Avila, did not immediately return a call Friday.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Man Says He Captured Loch Ness on Film
This shadowy something is what someone says is a photo of the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. An amateur scientist claims he has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the waters of Scotland's most mysterious lake. (AP PHOTO)

By BEN McCONVILLEEDINBURGH, Scotland - The Loch Ness monster is back _ and there's video. A man has captured what Nessie watchers say is possible footage of the supposed mythical creature beneath Scotland's most mysterious lake.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water," said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video Saturday.

Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine viewed the video and hoped to properly analyze it in the coming months.

"I see myself as a skeptical interpreter of what happens in the loch, but I do keep an open mind about these things and there is no doubt this is some of the best footage I have seen," said Shine, of the Loch Ness 2000 center in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the lake.

Holmes said whatever it was moved at about 6 mph and kept a fairly straight course.
"My initial thought is it could be a very big eel, they have serpent-like features and they may explain all the sightings in Loch Ness over the years."

Loch Ness is surrounded by myth. It's the largest inland body of water in Britain, and at about 750 feet to the bottom, it's even deeper than the North Sea.

"There are a number of possible explanations to the sightings in the loch. It could be some biological creature, it could just be the waves of the loch or it could some psychological phenomenon in as much as we see what we want to see," Shine said.

While many sightings can be attributed to a drop of the local whisky, legends of Scottish monsters date back to one of the founders of the Christian church in Scotland, St. Columba, who wrote of them in about 565 A.D.

More recently, there have been more than 4,000 purported Nessie sightings since she was first caught on camera by a surgeon on vacation in the 1930s.

Since then, the faithful have speculated about it is a completely unknown species, a sturgeon _ even though they have not been native to Scotland's waters for many years _ or even a last surviving dinosaur.

Real or imagined, Nessie has long been a Scottish emblem. She has been the muse for cuddly toys and immortalized on T-shirts and posters showing her classic three-humped image.

On Thursday, a group of Scottish business owners launched a bid to nominate Loch Ness for World Heritage site status _ though they cited its natural beauty, not Nessie. The Destination Loch Ness consortium must submit the nomination to the British government, which would decide whether to forward it to UNESCO.

The Scottish media is skeptical of Nessie stories but Holmes' footage is of such good quality that even the normally reticent BBC Scotland aired the video on its main news program Tuesday.

When Dr. Hans-Ulrich Niemitz introduces his paper on the "phantom time hypothesis," he kindly asks his readers to be patient, benevolent, and open to radically new ideas, because his claims are highly unconventional. This is because his paper is suggesting three difficult-to-believe propositions: 1) Hundreds of years ago, our calendar was polluted with 297 years which never occurred; 2) this is not the year 2005, but rather 1708; and 3) The purveyors of this hypothesis are not crackpots.

The Phantom Time Hypothesis suggests that the early Middle Ages (614-911 A.D.) never happened, but were added to the calendar long ago either by accident, by misinterpretation of documents, or by deliberate falsification by calendar conspirators. This would mean that all artifacts ascribed to those three centuries belong to other periods, and that all events thought to have occurred during that same period occurred at other times, or are outright fabrications. For instance, a man named Heribert Illig (pictured), one of the leading proponents of the theory, believes that Charlemagne was a fictional character. But what evidence is this outlandish theory based upon?

It seems that historians are plagued by a plethora of falsified documents from the Middle Ages, and such was the subject of an archaeological conference in M&#252;nchen, Germany in 1986. In his lecture there, Horst Fuhrmann, president of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, described how some documents forged by the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages were created hundreds of years before their "great moments" arrived, after which they were embraced by medieval society. This implied that whomever produced the forgeries must have very skillfully anticipated the future… or there was some discrepancy in calculating dates.

This was reportedly the first bit of evidence that roused Illig's curiosity… he wondered why the church would have forged documents hundreds of years before they would become useful. So he and his group examined other fakes from preceding centuries, and they "divined chronological distortions." This led them to investigate the origin of the Gregorian calendar, which raised even more inconsistency.

In 1582, the Gregorian calendar we still use today was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII to replace the outdated Julian calendar which had been implemented in 45 BC. The Gregorian calendar was designed to correct for a ten-day discrepancy caused by the fact that the Julian year was 10.8 minutes too long. But by Heribert Illig's math, the 1,627 years which had passed since the Julian calendar started should have accrued a thirteen-day discrepancy… a ten-day error would have only taken 1,257 years.

So Illig and his group went hunting for other gaps in history, and found a few… for example, a gap of building in Constantinople (558 AD - 908 AD) and a gap in the doctrine of faith, especially the gap in the evolution of theory and meaning of purgatory (600 AD until ca. 1100). From all of this data, they have become convinced that at some time, the calendar year was increased by 297 years without the corresponding passage of time.

Sometimes a hypothesis which challenges convention can be alluring, particularly when it seems to fit most of the facts… but as Carl Sagan used to say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. It seems to me that all of the evidence provided by Illig and his group is circumstantial, and their conclusions misguided. The hypothesis does raise some interesting questions and point out some inconsistencies in history, but to jump to such an outlandish conclusion indicates an unscientific approach to the problem.

Not only that, but their suggestions for the possible motives behind the calendar-changing conspiracy border on ridiculous. For instance, the first hypothesis they put forward is that Otto III modified the calendar in order to reign in the year 1000 AD, because this suited his understanding of Christian milleniarism.

I consider myself a rather open-minded chap, and I researched this hypothesis with unbiased curiosity when I first learned of it. Granted, most of the materials regarding this theory are written in German and have not been translated into English, so there may be more specific arguments for the hypothesis than those available to me. But from what I can tell, this theory has no basis in fact.

__________________"It does not take a brain seargant to know the reason this team struggles." -- dmack24

Completely changing the way we use electricity, a group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has successfully beamed electricity from a magnetic coil to a 60 watt light bulb 7 feet away. The phenomenon called electromagnetic induction is already used in transformers and electric motors but they must be close enough for power to pass from one another. Dr Soljacic, the lead researcher on the project, discovered that a transmitter could be used to fill a room with a 'non-radiative' electromagnetic field rather than the traditional transmitter/receiver method powering electric devices wirelessly. For a diagram of how WiTricity works follow the link.

wanted to comment on this article. I don't think the woman overreacted AT ALL, like the bitter pizza restaurant owner said. What would you do if you got a fax with a timer and bomb on it? what the hell would you think?

Thanks, I thought it was pretty interesting for two reasons. A) Seeing how little people survive on in developing countries and B) The family that spends the most per week ($500) looks extremely pissed off..haha.

It not only tastes like cardboard, it IS cardboard (60 percent, anyway).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beijing steamed buns include cardboard

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.

The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country's problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

Countless small, often illegally run operations exist across China and make money cutting corners by using inexpensive ingredients or unsavory substitutes. They are almost impossible to regulate.

State TV's undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing's sprawling Chaoyang district.

Baozi are a common snack in China, with an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and and a filling of sliced pork. Cooked by steaming in immense bamboo baskets, they are similar to but usually much bigger than the dumplings found on dim sum menus familiar to many Americans.

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.

The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

"What's in the recipe?" the reporter asks. "Six to four," the man says.

"You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda — a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap — then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite.

"This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste," he says. "Can other people taste the difference?"

"Most people can't. It fools the average person," the maker says. "I don't eat them myself."

Transgender Inmate Sues California Prison System for Throwing Her in Male Cell Block

Alexis Giraldo was born as a man and takes hormones to feminize her appearance, a fact she says prison officials didn't care about even as her male cellmate repeatedly raped and beat her.

Giraldo is suing the state prison system and several guards over the state's policy of assigning inmates like her to men's or women's prisons depending on whether they have had a sex change.

"Prisons are violent places, and male prisons are especially violent places," said Greg Walston, a lawyer who took Giraldo's for free and asked a jury this week for unspecified damages. "You take that boiling cauldron and you put one woman in there — which is exactly what happened here — and it's like throwing a fresh piece of meat into a lion's cage."

Giraldo, 30, claims Folsom State Prison guards ignored her complaints and returned her to the same cell until she was assaulted again, then placed in protective custody and moved to another facility.

Giraldo is suing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for emotional distress and violating her constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. She has asked Superior Court Judge Ellen Chaitin to order prison officials to come up with a new system for housing transgender inmates.

Several counties in California, including San Francisco, have created separate units specifically for transgender prisoners. But like other states and the federal Bureau of Prisons, California assigns inmates to prisons based on their genitalia rather than physical appearance.

Biological men who dress and act like women but have not had sex reassignment surgery can be assigned to a psychiatric prison like the one to which Giraldo eventually transferred or the general population of a regular men's prison.

The California Attorney General's office, which is representing the corrections department and Folsom staff members also named as defendants in the lawsuit, said Friday it would not comment on the case.

Briefs filed by the state argue that Giraldo initially was in a consensual sexual relationship with her cellmate in violation of prison policy, did not report specific rape claims and refused offers to be moved to a different cell. Once she made it clear her cellmate was sexually assaulting her and prison staff found strangulation marks on her neck, she was removed to protective custody, the state maintains.

"Plaintiff alleges that he informed prison staff on a number of occasions about these events. However, the documentation maintained by prison personnel — including some of the defendants in this case — does not bear out these assertions," the state's brief states.

Teda Boyll, a retired guard and supervisor in California, testified for Giraldo as an expert witness Friday, saying that in her opinion Folsom officials failed to adequately investigate Giraldo's concerns and assure her safety.

"There are some warning signs," Boyll said. "When an inmate says, 'I am getting pressured for sex,' it means it is already happened or it is imminent he will have to provide nonconsensual sex to another inmate."

Giraldo was sent to Folsom for shoplifiting and a parole violation in January 2006 and spent three months there before she was transferred to the medical prison. She was paroled this month and plans to testify.

Her former cellmate, who is serving a sentence for armed robbery, is also scheduled to testify in the trial.

ELM MOTT, Texas — A Navy man who got mad when someone mocked him as a "nerd" over the Internet climbed into his car and drove 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas to teach the other guy a lesson.

As he made his way toward Texas, Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares posted photos online showing the welcome signs at several states' borders, as if to prove to his Internet friends that he meant business.

When he finally arrived, Tavares burned the guy's trailer down.

This week, Tavares, 27, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading no contest to arson and admitting he set the blaze.

"I didn't think anybody was stupid enough to try to kill anybody over an Internet fight," said John G. Anderson, 59, who suffered smoke inhalation while trying to put out the 2005 blaze that caused $50,000 in damage to his trailer and computer equipment.

The feud started when Anderson, who runs a haunted house near Waco, joined a picture-sharing Web site and posted his artwork and political views. After he blocked some people from his page because of insults and foul language, they retaliated by making obscene digitally altered pictures of him, he said.

Anderson, who went by the screen name "Johnny Darkness," traded barbs with Tavares, aka "PyroDice."

Investigators say Tavares boiled over when Anderson called him a nerd and posted a digitally altered photo making Tavares look like a skinny boy in high-water pants, holding a gun and a laptop under a "Revenge of the Nerds" sign.

Tavares obtained Anderson's real name and hometown from Anderson's Web page about his Museum of Horrors Haunted House.

Tavares took leave from his post as a weapons systems operator at the AEGIS Training and Readiness Center in Dahlgren, Va., and started driving. Investigators say he told them he planned to point a shotgun at Anderson and shoot his computer.

Instead, when he got to Elm Mott — after posting one last photo of a "Welcome to Texas" sign — Tavares threw a piece of gasoline-soaked plastic foam into the back of Anderson's mobile home and lit a flare, authorities say.

Tavares' attorney, Susan Kelly Johnston, said his trip to the Waco area was a last-minute decision during a cross-country trip to visit his parents in Arizona. She said he never intended to hurt Anderson and did not think he was in the trailer when he set the fire.

James Pack, an investigator with the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, caught up with Tavares after talking to people in several states and Spain who had been involved in the online feud. Tavares' cell phone records showed he was in the Waco area at the time of the fire, Pack said.

"He lost everything — all over an Internet squabble," the investigator said.

Tavares was discharged last year from the Navy, where he earned several medals — including the pistol expert and rifle expert medals — in his nine-year career, said Navy spokesman Mike McLellan.

Tavares would not let the feud go even at his sentencing. According to Pack, Tavares took cell-phone photos of Anderson in the courtroom while the judge was hearing another case. Authorities ordered the photos erased.

Anderson, an ex-Marine who served in Vietnam, said he continues to be harassed online, has been startled by people knocking on his window late at night and found bullet holes in a door to his business.

He said he is convinced the harassment is related to the Internet feud and plans to spend $30,000 on more fencing topped with barbed wire.

"Before this happened, the rule was: Nobody messes with the haunted house guy," Anderson said.

Court: Corpse Sex Not Illegal In Wisconsin
Posted on Friday, 27 of July , 2007 at 4:40 pm

LANCASTER, WIS—A Wisconsin appeals court has upheld the dismissal of charges against the three men who dug up a woman’s corpse last year to have sex with it because Wisconsin has no law against necrophilia.

In a 3-0 Court of Appeals decision, it was held that a lower court judge was correct in dismissing the charges against twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and Dustin Radke, all 21, last September because state lawmakers hadn’t intended to criminalize sex with a corpse.

tennessenlaura.jpgThe trio decided to dig up the body of Laura Tennessen, 20, who had been killed in a motorcycle accident after seeing her picture in an obituary notice in the newspaper. None of the three men knew the woman.

Radke told police that the three had stopped at a Wal-Mart on the way to the cemetery to buy condoms. They were arrested last Sept. 2 at the St. Charles Cemetery in Grant County, southwestern Wisconsin after police received a complaint about suspicious activity. The police report says that they found a vehicle which had been parked near the cemetery and then saw Alexander Grunke walking towards the vehicle, dressed in black. On questioning, Grunke told police that his brother and Radke were digging up a grave. Police found that the grave of a 20-year-old woman who had been killed Aug. 27 in a motorcycle accident had been partially dug up, with only the top of the concrete vault visible. Nicholas Grunke and Radke were arrested the following morning about eight miles from the cemetery.Prosecutors had appealed the dismissal of the charges, saying that there was a provision in the sexual assault law that says criminal penalties apply “whether a victim is dead or alive at the time of the sexual contact or sexual intercourse”. The court decision held that while the law was ambiguous, the most reasonable interpretation was that it does not ban necrophilia. http://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/D...df&seqNo=29824

Legislation has been introduced by Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, that would make having sex with a corpse a felony with punishment of up to 6 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The bill would levy the same penalties against anyone who intentionally disturbs a burial site or a buried human corpse. 7-27-07

A 65-year-old Palatine woman taking an afternoon walk in her neighborhood was attacked by two Rottweilers, but broke free of the year-old dogs and ran, police said Monday after ticketing the dogs' owner.

The woman was treated at Northwest Community Hospital after being bitten on both arms during the Sunday attack, but was recovering in her home Monday, police said.

Police officers had to fire a steel beanbag projectile to stun one of the dogs -- a 100-pound male -- after it charged them, Palatine Police Cmdr. Sam Maki said. The same dog later charged again at officers, but turned back after an officer fired one shot at it with his handgun, Maki said.

Both animals -- the other was a 90-pound female -- later were impounded by police and remained under observation Monday. Neither dog was injured, Maki said.

Their owner, 42-year-old Linda Cassidy of Palatine, was cited for allowing the dogs to run free.

Cassidy, who couldn't be reached Monday for comment, faces a maximum $750 fine on each of the four tickets, Maki said. She is scheduled to appear in court next month.

Texas Coach Mack Brown on Sunday announced that sophomore linebacker Sergio Kindle of Woodrow Wilson and junior defensive end Henry Melton of Grapevine will both be suspended for the first three games of the season after being charged this summer with driving while intoxicated.

Kindle and Melton will perform community service and meet with a mother who had a child crippled by a drunk driver.

The two will miss the first few days of practice, which begins Monday, while meeting with the mother. Kindle and Melton will not be in uniform or travel with the team for Texas’ first three games: at home against Arkansas State on Sept. 1; at home against TCU on Sept. 8; and on the road against Central Florida on Sept. 15.

“We have a serious problem with drugs and alcohol in America today,” Brown said, “and it’s a great opportunity for our football team to stand up and talk about how serious we feel about drinking and driving.”

Kindle was challenging for a starting position at strong side linebacker coming out of spring drills, and Melton is a reserve defensive end

Cars line up for gas at the Kangaroo Express BP on South 17th Street about 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 10, 2008. The station mistakenly was charging 35 cents a gallon for premium gasoline.

Deshauna Canty is never in a good mood after filling up her Lincoln Navigator.

But she was all smiles today when she swiped her Visa credit card to pay after gassing up her sport utility vehicle.

Why wouldn’t she be? Gas was 35 cents a gallon.

Canty was among hundreds of people who found temporary relief from $3-plus gasoline prices today after an employee accidentally set the price at 35 cents at the Kangaroo Express station at 17th Street and Wellington Avenue, employees said.

The trouble started about 9 a.m. today when an attendant at the BP station punched in 35 cents instead of $3.35 for premium-grade gasoline, said employee Shane Weller. The mistake wasn’t noticed until about 6 p.m., when crowds jammed the pumps and caused traffic jams on nearby roads, Weller said.

By that time news of the low-priced gas had spread like wildfire through e-mail and word of mouth, he said.

Canty heard about the price from her children’s baby-sitter and filled up her Ford Taurus earlier in the afternoon, she said.

“I wasn’t sure if it was true, but I decided to come out here and check it out,” Canty said. “I didn’t have anything to lose and everything to gain.”

After spending a fraction of what she usually pays for fuel for her Taurus, she returned around 6 p.m. to fill up her sport utility vehicle.

Filling up her Navigator usually costs Canty close to $100, but at Thursday’s price it would only cost her $9.80 for a full 28-gallon tank.

Venus Mitchell passed a dozen gas stations after driving from a Market Street shopping center to take advantage of the prices, she said.

“A lady came up to me in the parking lot and told me that gas was 35 cents so I hopped in my car and drove,” said Mitchell from her late-model Oldsmobile.

But Mitchell didn’t make it to the pump before employees switched the prices back.

“I’m a little disappointed because I’ve never paid 35 cents for gas,” she said.

In 1972, the year before the Arab oil embargo, gasoline was selling at 36 cents per gallon, according to a Cato Institute report issued in 2006. Taking inflation into account, that 1972 price would still only be $1.86 a gallon.

Station employees discovered the pricing error after calling their district manager to inquire about changing the price of gas as a way of stemming traffic, Weller said.

“People had been coming in all day stiffing us, not telling us nothing,” Weller said. “They knew something was wrong because regular gas was still $3-something a gallon, and when have you ever known premium gas to be lower than regular?”

After the price returned to normal people continued to flood the gas station, hoping to take advantage of the low the price.

Wilmington police arrived about 6:30 p.m. to help deal with traffic and control the crowd.

There were no reports of accidents or incidents of violence, New Hanover County 911 officials said.

Weller said he doesn’t know what will happen to the employee who typed in the wrong price.

He also isn’t sure how the gas station will deal with money lost from the gas sales during the 10-hour mix-up.

“What can you do?” Weller asked. “There’s nothing illegal about being immoral, but I just don’t see how people could do that to us.”

Mitchell said people didn’t mean any disrespect. They were probably looking for some relief, she said.

“Gas is high these days so I really can’t say I blame them,” Mitchell said.

__________________
"I still go through it in my head," Nowitzki said. "One of my last nights in Germany [last month], I was trying to go to sleep, but I couldn't. I was thinking about the free throw I missed [late in Game 3], about different situations that happened in that series. I'll never forget it. It's going to stay in my mind until we win it all."

Narrator: Was it ticking?
Airport Security Officer: Actually throwers don't worry about ticking 'cause modern bombs don't tick.
Narrator: Sorry, throwers?
Airport Security Officer: Baggage handlers. But, when a suitcase vibrates, then the throwers gotta call the police.
Narrator: My suitcase was vibrating?
Airport Security Officer: Nine times out of ten it's an electric razor, but every once in a while...
[looks around, leans in conspiratorially]
Airport Security Officer: ...it's a dildo. [leans back] Of course, it's company policy never to imply ownership in the event of a dildo. We have to use the indefinite article: "a dildo", never "your dildo".

Residents of a town in Saudi Arabia have sought official help after suffering repeated attacks by drought-plagued baboons with a reported taste for pomegranate.

Gulf newspapers reported on Monday that mass invasions by troops of up to 100 baboons were ransacking towns across the southern regions of Taif, al-Baha and Majarida.

Officials at the National Wildlife Protection Agency have blamed a severe drought which has killed vegetation in the baboons' traditional mountain habitats.

"Lack of rain, drought and drying of trees are other factors for this rising phenomenon," an official said.

"In some cases, the number of baboons attacking houses and damaging farms stood at nearly 100."
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Several people have received medical treatment after attacks. Homes and cars have been damaged.

Classes were suspended at the Al-Baha College for Girls after baboons rampaged through the premises last week.

One man said the attacks were now occurring on a daily basis. The man, named as Mohammad al-Fawaz by newspapers, said: "They attack my house every day. My car was damaged and clothes were snatched.

"They prevent my family members and children from going out even to the courtyard.”

Saudi Arabia is struggling to cope with one of the worst droughts in its history. To ensure that its cities remain viable, the kingdom has been forced to order the construction of salt water conversion plants.

To cope with the attacks in remote areas, which will not receive the output of desalination units, farmers have demanded the liberalisation of the country's gun laws, so that they can legally hold air rifles and small arms.

Naif al-Shahri, the victim of one attack, protested against a lack of official action to the governor of Mecca.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Charles Ray Fuller must have been planning one big record company. The 21-year-old North Texas man was arrested last week for trying to cash a $360 billion check, saying he wanted to start a record business. Tellers at the Fort Worth bank were immediately suspicious — perhaps the 10 zeros on a personal check tipped them off.

Fuller, of suburban Crowley, was arrested on a forgery charge. He was released after posting $3,750 bail.

Fuller said his girlfriend's mother gave him the check to start a record business. But bank employees who contacted the account's owner said the woman told them she did not give him permission to take or cash the check.

In addition to the forgery count, Fuller was charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon and possessing marijuana. Officers reported finding less than two ounces of marijuana and a .25-caliber handgun and magazine in his pockets

Which condiment you favor when you lather your hot dog -- ketchup or mustard -- reveals your politics, according to a noted political scientist.

"People who mostly or entirely use ketchup are much more likely to favor the invasion of Iraq than those who use mustard," says Dr. Noah Frum, a senior fellow at the prestigious Institute for Political Advantage think tank.

"Red is an aggressive, war-like color, whereas yellow is much more passive and low-key, " he says. Dr. Frum conducted his study when one of the political parties, looking for an advantage in the upcoming November elections, came to him looking for new ways to identify possible supporters.

Dr Frum gathered a number of subjects together, placed hot dogs and hamburgers in front of them, and gave them their choice of ketchup or mustard. Then he asked their opinions on a number of subjects, including the war in Iraq, terrorism and immigration.

"The ketchup eaters were much more likely to favor aggressive policies than the mustard-eaters," he says. "Their food preferences weren't the only thing that was 'yellow'."